Diaries

25 years ago, I was a junior at the University of Michigan. I went to the Michigan-Michigan State game that year. I ended up sitting right on the goal line, about 15 rows up. This, of course, was the game where MSU got away with tackling Desmond Howard in the endzone on Michigan's two point conversion attempt. Michigan ended up losing 28-27. I wandered around the stadium and the parking lots and Ann Arbor in a daze, occasionally yelling at random people, "They tackled him in the endzone!" 25 years later, I still don't handle defeats very well, but at least I've stopped yelling at random strangers. This is going to be a little (or a lot) shorter than most weeks, because I really need 2 weeks off.

Burst of Impetus
* The rules of the game have changed over time. I remember when, at least I think I remember, you could have 12 men on the field on defense as long as you got back to 11 before the ball was snapped. Even today, you'll see defenders hurrying off the field trying not to get flagged for having too many men on the field WHEN THE BALL IS SNAPPED. On MSU's 2nd drive, they were facing a 3rd and 5. Michigan was flagged for 12 men on the field and MSU converted without having to run a play. In fact, IIRC, Kody Kieler fell over and came out for an injury before the next play was even run.
* Later on the same drive, MSU was facing a 3rd and 18. The drive was apparently stopped, but the officials called Jabrill Peppers for holding. What I saw was the MSU receiver run into the official, fall down, and then Peppers ran over the Spartan because he fell right in front of Peppers. I'm not sure how that is a holding penalty. A 10 yard penalty on 3rd and 18 should result in a 3rd and 8, except MSU got an automatic 1st down on the play. I don't recall holding giving you an automatic 1st down, I thought that was reserved for personal fouls of the 15 yard variety. These two plays kept the Spartan drive alive, allowing them to keep the ball for 16 plays, drive 70 yards, and take 8:05 off the clock. They didn't score on the drive, but they took the starch out of our offense by keeping them on the sideline for more than half of the 1st quarter. It's hard to get in rhythm on offense when you are stuck on the sideline.
* In the second quarter, Joe Bolden was whistled for a targetting foul for being blocked into the Spartan quarterback. Let's just pretend we didn't notice Conklin's hand grabbing the back of Bolden's jersey. So instead of MSU being assessed a 10 yard holding penalty, they gained 15 yards and didn't have to face a 3rd down. Later in the drive, Royce Jenkins-Stone was held by the back of his jersey, opening up a lane f or LJ Scott to waltz into the endzone.
* Late in the third quarter, with the play still going, Willie Henry jumped on one of his fellow defenders to "finish the play." The refs called a personal foul on Henry. I guess they didn't think it was sportsmanlike for him to land on his teammate. Instead of 4th and 3, MSU had another first down via penalty.
* With Michigan leading by two scores and less than 10 minutes to play, MSU completed a 74 yard pass to their fullback. Michigan fans around the country wondered what we had to do to finish off these guys. It was like a bad horror movie where the villain keeps getting back up for more. At the end of the Terminator movie, Arnold is apparently blown up when a gas tanker explodes, only to emerge from the fireball, minus his flesh, but robotic skeleton fully intact. At the end of T2, the Terminator is frozen solid, shatters, and is disbursed across the factory floor, only to slowly reassemble and continue the attack. Yes, I'm comparing MSU to a heartless, soulless, robotic killer, programmed to do only one thing - terminate Michigan's football lives.
* The last 10 seconds of the game.

The Two Jakes
* Jake Rudock was once again, 2 for 3 on my efficiency metrics, going 15 for 25 (60%, passing, but just barely) with zero turnovers, but missing on the YPA by averaging 6.7 per attempt.
* Early on, someone said my YPA was not sufficiently difficult. I checked the stats this week and saw about 84 QBs average at least 7 YPA. There are 128 FBS teams, give or take, so that doesn't seem like a high bar. However, I want my efficient QB to do this AND this AND this. Of all those QBs, only 60 throw for 60% or more with 7+ YPA and 1 or fewer TOs per game. I'll take that. Either you are efficient or you are not. If ~1/2 of the QBs pass my test, I'd say my WAG at efficiency is close to the mark.
* Rudock clearly needs to hit some deep passes to het his YPA up. I don't want to say bad things about the players after a game like this, but on one of the deep routes, Chesson heads towards the center of the field before breaking it deep. That could be the difference in a completion versus a ball that is 1 yard too long.
* Jake Butt caught one pass for 4 yards and had a tackle. He was also just a couple yards late in tackling the MSU special teams player on the last play of the game.
* Butt would have had another catch, except he was clearly interfered with, only it wasn't called. He also caught a ball off the turf that was originally ruled a catch only to be overruled. The replay official did not overrule the 2nd call. I thought his hands were under the ball, in which case it is OK for the ball to touch the ground as long as the ground doesn't dislodge or move the ball around in his hands. Butt clearly thought he made the catch. I hate the replay system. It may be better than the alternative, but it's not perfect. How can the replay official not overturn the Butt call, but he can see clearly that the Spartan receiver's toe was still touching the ground when he made the catch at the sideline, even though both officials at the scene emphatically ruled it not a catch? You're telling me there's not the slightest chance his toe was maybe a centimeter off the ground by the time he caught the ball?

Root Tree Runners
* After distributing the ball to various and sundry blocky-catchy types in prior weeks, Rudock completed half of his passes to wide receivers (not including the one he caught himself.) After using the backs and tight ends so effectively, this game saw Williams get 2 passes, Butt caught 1, and Smith and Higdon each had one.

Jackhammers
* Aside from one 27 yard gain from Houma, De'Veon Smith was the ground game, gaining 46 yards on 19 carries. Not great, but his runs did set up the play action passing game that sort of worked sometimes. I thought they tried to run him outside far too often instead of attacking up the gut of the Spartan defense. It seemed like Smith was most effective (and by that I mean the few times he got 5 or 6 yards) when we were blasting straight up the middle. I could be wrong.

Tacos and Peppers
* Peppers had his best game statistically so far. He caught 2 passes for 35 yards, returned three punts for 48 yards, 3 kickoffs for 81 yards, he had 2 tackles, and he got called for holding for running into a player who had fallen down running into an official.
* Desmond Morgan had 8 tackles. Our leading tackler on the season, Joe Bolden, had 2 tackles before he was thrown out of the game for being held and thrown into the Spartan QB.
* Jourdan Lewis had 7 tackles and 6 BrUps as he was repeatedly targeted since he was guarding State's best receiver. I guess I would call this matchup a draw. I was surprised that Michigan didn't try to mix up the defensive looks more. I thought they might be able to bait Cook into one of those high lob passes and have the safety come over to pick it off. But the safeties were selling out to stop the run game, as we saw on State's 74 yard pass.
* Michigan had 7 TFLs, 3 big sacks, and 10 BrUps, as they continue filling up the rest of the defensive stat sheet. The only thing missing was a turnover. Give State credit, they protected the football.

ST3's STSTs
* Kenny Allen was 3 for 3 on field goals. The problem with settling for field goals is sometimes the other team gets TDs. The spartan kicking game is in such disarray that they didn't even try a FG. Instead, they went 0 for 4 on fourth down. The team on the short side of that stat usually loses. Oh well.
* Net yards per punt was 44 for Michigan and only 23.6 for MSU. That's 2 first downs difference on every exchange of punts (or would that be 4 first downs, 2 when we punt and 2 when they punt?) That explains why even though MSU outgained Michigan 386 to 230, it didn't seem that lopsided to me.

Baughscore Bits
* I'm just going to put up the first down stats here and let you guess what point I'm trying to reinforce.

High pressure in the plains and a trough - think of it as a stretched out area of low pressure - to the north near the straits will keep us under northwesterly wind flow and keep that rain chance lingering. We look to be dry most of the day with some sun, but a rogue shower isn't out of the question. Dress in the maize & blue layers for this one - it'll be chilly!

Tailgating

A frosty start to this Saturday! We do have a freeze warning in effect until 9am, so if you're headed out early, expect to see some on the grass before that sun warms us up a bit. You'll want the hot coffee and the crockpot meals for this one - we start the day around 30 degrees, edging into the low 30s by mid-morning. With NW winds around 10mph (leaves blow about), it'll feel more like 25 degrees with the wind chill (did we skip Fall or what?!). As we approach lunchtime, that's when we start to see the low 40s. That's also when the wind picks up - tie down the tent and put the rock on the napkins! Winds will be up to 15mph and gusting in the low 20s (this is when you'd see white horses on the water, tree branches sway), and it'll make it feel like we're still in the low 30s. Partly cloudy skies to clean up that tailgate before the game, and we're up near 45 degrees.

Kickoff

Some clouds to start the game and 49 degrees. We do keep that chance of a stray shower in the forecast, but if it does rain it won't last long. Steady winds will be out of the NW at 15mph, still gusting in the low 20s. That will keep the wind chill hovering right around 40 degrees.

Halftime

Some sun and some clouds by the halftime show, with the chance for a rain drop or two. We'll have temps drop just a couple degrees, so we keep the mid 40s for the second half. You'll start the notice the gusts decrease, but steady winds will remain about 15mph. This is probably going to be one of the halftime shows you spend getting hot chocolate!

Post-Game

Low 40s leaving the game, with a decent amount of clouds. Good news is - winds start to die down. If you're headed out to dinner, they drop to 10mph, staying out of the NW, by the time you're finished. You'll definitely want the jacket - dare I say winter coat - if you'll be out later! Temperatures fall to the upper 30s late-night (wind chill low 30s) with partly cloudy skies, and you'll be out for that last celebratory brewski, we're hitting that freezing mark (wind chill 25 degrees). Time to come home Paul Bunyan!

Christina Burkhart is a meteorologist for ABC in Flint, MI. She grew up in Ann Arbor and associates Saturdays with Michigan football. Go Blue!!

Last week was busy, so I’ll wrap in the results from the past two weeks into one column. Hard to believe that many teams have already played half their games, but time flies when you’re having fun.

SEC

In the last two weeks:

Florida pulled off a signature home upset win over Ole Miss – not only did the Gators notch a win over a top 5 opponent, it was a commanding victory devoid of much suspense: UF led 25-0 at halftime and the rest of the game was effectively garbage time.

They also managed to avoid a letdown the next week on the road against Missouri and now hold a two-game lead over the rest of the SEC East. Unfortunately their starting quarterback was suspended for a year by the NCAA and they have to go to Death Valley to face LSU this weekend.

Meanwhile Georgia, the pre-season favorite in the SEC East, has had a disappointing past two weeks: the Dawgs welcomed Alabama to Athens for the first time since the now-infamous blackout game and, once again, were overly gracious hosts as the Tide dominated in a 38-10 win.

Alabama notched a generally non-descript win over Arkansas – even after the win over Tennessee, the Razorbacks have four losses already with trips to Ole Miss and LSU coming in November, it’s hard to see a path to a better season than last, which isn’t ideal in what was supposed to be a breakout year.

Georgia followed their big loss to Bama with a trip to Tennessee (who were coming off a tough loss to Arkansas themselves) and the Vols flipped the script – instead of suffering a brutal comeback defeat, UT responded to an early deficit and won due to their best offensive performance this season – Josh Dobbs, Tennessee’s QB, was seriously unleashed in the running game for the first time.

In a game that sort of flew under the national radar two weeks ago, Texas A&M defeated Mississippi State to remain undefeated – the Aggies are surprisingly 3-0 in conference play (the only other undefeated SEC West team is LSU) and the John Chavis hire looks like one of the best off-season coaching moves in the league this past spring.

This series examines the probable individual matchups Michigan expects to face against particular opponents on one of Michigan’s key running plays and one of its key passing plays, as well as defensively against a couple of the opponent’s key plays (assuming first-sting personnel in a base defensive alignment).

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve done a Four Plays and my, how things have changed. Last time around, Michigan was sitting at 2-1 and we confident about an upcoming visit from BYU. Maybe not that confident; the two wins were against Oregon State (one of the worst teams in the Pac-12) and UNLV (one of the worst teams in FBS), while the loss, though on the road, was to a fringe top-25 team—like BYU. But Michigan’s team had shown improvement, the game was at the Big House, and a couple key injuries had softened the Cougars up for us, so we had good reason to think this week would be different—with “different” meaning maybe we complete that big 4th quarter drive this time, or maybe it’s our defense that gets the critical late takeaway to ice the W. One thing was for sure though—it was going to be a good game.

And then Michigan won the game 31-0, with the victory well in-hand before halftime.

With Michigan having followed that up by punking Maryland on the road for another shutout, and then blowing the doors off #13-ranked Northwestern last weekend, the narrative surrounding the Wolverines has gone from “eh, I think we can take BYU now that their quarterback is injured” to “wow—this team could actually make the college football playoffs.” So now my 9-3 prediction, which had cast me as a foolish homer at the outset of the season, actually looks pessimistic.

This Michigan State game was one of the losses I’d anticipated, with the Spartans ranked #2 to start the year on the strength of a fine offensive line, a potential first-round draft pick at QB, and a typically fierce Spartan defense. But I don’t feel that way anymore; Harbaugh has delivered on his promise to build an army, while injuries, poor, and entropy have plagued MSU. If anything, my feeling on this game is probably about what I imagine Ohio State fans would have felt heading into The Game in the mid 90s. That’s not very comforting, however, so let’s look at some matchups.

When Michigan has the ball…

1. 32 Belly Lead

One of the oldest forms of ritualized expression, the Raqs Sharqi or “Dance of the Orient” is believed to have originated as a fertility rite among early tribal peoples in Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Indian subcontinent. The art from was later called the “danse du ventre” by the French, meaning “dance of the stomach”—and loosely translated by American observers at Chicago’s 1893 World’s Fair into the term Americans all recognize today: “belly dance.”

Like the belly dance, the fullback belly concept also has ancient, yet uncertain, origins. Some trace the belly back to Walter Camp, the famous Yale coach responsible for such innovations as the “line-of-scrimmage,” reducing teams from 15 to 11 men per side, and—most importantly for our purpose—inventing the “T formation.” The T would come to dominate football for more than two decades, but quickly fell out of favor when the forward pass was introduced in 1906.

Camp’s T-formation underwent a renaissance of sorts after the 1940 NFL Championship Game, in which the Chicago Bears used the T to annihilate its opponent (the football-team-from-Washington-DC-that-shall-not-otherwise-be-named) by a 73-0 score—still the greatest margin in NFL history (and also notable as the last pro football game to feature a helmetless player). One of the most successful coaches in this second wave of T formation offense was Georgia Tech’s Bobby Dodd, who rode the T to an 11-0-1 finish in 1951 and a perfect 12-0 in 1952.

In 1954, Dodd published a book, On Football, which detailed a so-called “90 series” of quick-hitting fullback runs that incorporated a “belly fake.” The belly fake, Dodd explained, was a technique in which the quarterback would place the ball into the fullback’s belly and then either hand off to the FB on the dive—i.e., a quick-hitting run that attacks the B-gap (between the offensive guard and tackle), or pull the ball back out and toss it to a trailing runner, drop back to pass, run option (in a pitch relationship with the tailback), or roll to the backside of the formation (a.k.a. “bootleg”). Importantly, even if the quarterback does hand the ball off to the fullback, the quarterback and tailback still need to carry through their post-handoff actions so as to freeze second-level defenders.

Whether as the belly’s original creator (which seems highly doubtful) or for his consolidated refinements (which seems much more likely), Dodd is mainly credited as the father of the football belly. And in later years, the belly fake would later go on to form the basis of countless great offensive schemes, such as the wishbone, flexbone, I-form, and other option offenses that washed through college football in the sixty years or so since Dodd’s book came out—all the way through to the modern spread & shred (where the belly fake involves a quarterback and speedy running back). But Coach Dodd up in football heaven certainly beamed a little smile in the direction of Schembechler Hall on Monday, when Jim Harbaugh mentioned in his press conference that it was “heartwarming to see the fullback dive be successful.” A follow-up question asked what had made the play successful, and on cue Harbaugh replied: “Everybody who doesn’t have the ball is essential. In terms of blocking and carrying out fakes, everybody becomes a blocker who’s not carrying the ball.”

Harbaugh’s fullback runs are not true belly plays—just straight handoffs to the fullback, not reads with the QB having the option to pull the ball out. This may change at some point. But Harbaugh still utilizes the post-handoff fakes to freeze linebackers and safeties and while his beastly fullbacks thunder through piles. Maybe it ain’t no Raqs Sharqi, but it’s still some beauty in motion.

When Harbaugh debuted this particular fullback run against BYU, the H-back (Poggi) lined up right behind the right guard (Kalis); at the snap, Kalis went straight for the WLB and Poggi stepped up to kick out the DT. And wouldn’t you know it—here comes the left guard to lead the ballcarrier through the hole and hit the MLB, just like Power O. I kind of struggled with what to call this play; I might have done better just calling it “Inside Power.”

Assignments:

SE Amara Darboh: Block CB Darian Hicks (or Jermaine Edmondson)

H-Back Henry Poggi: Kick out block on 3-tech DT Joel Heath

LT Mason Cole: Down block WDE Lawrence Thomas

LG Ben Braden: Pull around Center and lead the fullback through the 2-hole; block first green jersey (likely MLB Riley Bullough)

C Graham Glasgow: Down bock NT Malik McDowell

RG Kyle Kalis: Fire out to second level immediately, kick-out block on WLB John Reschke

The Spartans’ typical stout defensive front features quality DTs and preseason all-B1G defensive end Shilique Calhoun. Michigan’s running game is much improved this season, and Rudock and Harbaugh’s offensive playcalling team have shown an especially good feel for when to call fullback runs, but I still think State has to get the nod here.

2. Smash-Wheel-In

One of the few frustrating moments Michigan has endured outside of the Utah game was an ill-fated fourth down conversion attempt against Maryland on which Rudock passed up two open receivers for a futile scramble attempt and wound up fumbling. The playcall, a smash-wheel play from a trips formation, sprang receivers open deep and shallow, but Rudock was late on his reads and couldn’t get the ball out. We’ll see this again, however—and hopefully this time for a big gain or a critical third- or fourth-down conversion.

After a fair amount of searching, I found numerous plays run from a twins formation, with the two outside receivers running a curl & wheel combination while an inside receiver (usually a releasing back) would head to the flat on an arrow route. Harbaugh’s version, run from a trips alignment, had the outermost receiver break underneath to the inside, rather than send a back from the inside-out. In both cases, the play design gives the QB a triangle read on one half of the field and stresses underneath zone defenders (who must simultaneously cover the smash and the flat route) as well as man defenders (who must navigate traffic resulting from the multiple intersecting route patterns, and potentially switch on receivers).

The secondary has been an uncharacteristic weak spot for State through the first half of 2015 and covering trips formations is one of the trickier duties to pull, while Michigan’s receivers have been strong in the short game this season. But MSU still features a wicked pass rush and though Rudock was on target against Nothwestern last weekend, he has not been consistently accurate over the course of the season. I, for one, believe we’ll start seeing Rudock round into the 70%+ DSR form he showed at Iowa as the season grinds into the later stages. But that might not happen, and the possibility that accurate Rudock was a one-game blip is too high to call the advantage for Michigan here.

When Michigan State has the ball…

3. Tackle Trap

As you might have heard, the Michigan defensive line has been killing people this season, mainly due to the unit’s outstanding defensive tackles crushing pockets or quickly penetrating past centers and guards. Michigan State, with several offensive linemen playing hurt or out of action altogether, cannot realistically hope to counter Michigan’s pressure physically—but they may be well-suited to counter it schematically. Through the use of trap blocking, such as this play that Space Coyote excerpted from the MSU spring game, the Spartans can potentially exploit holes in the defense that may occur through over-penetration, or slow down rushers leery of blind-side trap blocks.

With James Ross on the bench for the first half due to a targeting ejection last weekend, State might look to profit with heavy formations early to test Michigan’s unproven backup OLBs. But Michigan’s defensive line has been so disruptive this season that it’s hard to see the Spartan running game finding much daylight, especially with an OL of walking wounded.

4. Switch Verticals

The three verticals and four verticals plays attack two-deep and three-deep coverages, respectively, by “flooding” the deep zones—i.e., by sending three receivers to outnumber two deep defenders, or four receivers to outnumber three deep defenders. Theoretically, the defender with two receivers in his zone will have to leave one of them open, and making for an easy completion.

In their shootout against Rutgers last weekend, MSU scored a critical second-half touchdown on a three verticals concept—but with the added wrinkle of switch route to complicate the coverage and facilitate easier releases for their receivers. The play I mentioned above got DeAnthony Arnett open against a single defender, and Cook didn’t miss him. MSU appears to have picked up the switch concept last season, after Oregon used it used to beat Sparty in Eugene; Space Coyote just posted a link to his post on MSU’s switch vertical technique, where he covers it in extensive detail. (I read both the James Light post and Space Coyote’s very carefully and bother were extremely helpful in preparing this diary, so thanks to both of them).

I think Connor Cook is a pretty good quarterback and I’ve always been impressed with Burbridge’s talent, plus MSU’s usually mediocre receivers always show up to play against Michigan. So if this was just a comparison between those guys and Michigan’s lights-out secondary, I might call this even. But with an injury-depleted line against Michigan’s fearsome pass rush, no chance.

Homecoming 2015. Northwestern 0, Michigan 38. The third shutout in a row! And, as we would be reminded, the first since 1980, my super-senior year (5th year). Do I remember those shutouts? In a word, no.

Mr. Peabody, set the Way Back Machine.

My first Michigan game was as a freshman in 1976. I attended most home games through my undergraduate years. In 1976, there were 5 shutouts, including a 22-0 beat down on OSU. 1 shutout in 1977. 4 shutouts in 1978. 1 shutout in 1979. Then the 3 in a row shutouts of 1980. Obviously, shutouts were not unusual. Crushing opponents was the norm. In 1976, Michigan outscored opponents 432-95; 1977, 353-124; 1978, 372-105; 1979, 312-151; 1980, 322-129.

During those years, I was one of the quietest 100,000. The loud, screaming, annoying little kid sitting behind me was encouraged to shut the hell up (turned out it was a fraternity brother's still-in-junior-high little brother - but that is another story). During my undergrad years, we came to watch a game. Audience participation was not required. Why? Because it was not the norm of the day and, more importantly, the team did not need it.

Over the intervening years, things changed and eventually I moved out west. Throughout the football landscape, audience participation became a means to impact the game. I mean, we had always heard of the Texas A&M 12th man, but that was them, not us and what did it really mean? I had no idea.

I've heard Autzen Stadium was loud. I'd heard Ryan Field was loud. Turns out, both schools had been using the noise as an offensive weapon to interrupt the opponent. I live north of Seattle and the Seahawks' 12th man has been around for nearly 30 years. But it wasn't until 2004, with a new stadium and the noise-reflecting, angled roof, that the impact of the 12th man really hit home to me. The fan's noise is deafening, to the point where it physically hurts to be in the stadium. I liken it to standing between an EA-6B Prowler's exhaust nozzle and a jet blast deflector on an aircraft carrier: It will literally liquefy and shake the snot out of your sinuses (a great cold remedy). The QWest Field noise and its impact is well documented. Washington Huskies used QWest Field well while their stadium was remodeled. At QWest and Husky Stadium, the fans are making noise whenever the opponent has the ball. Not just when they are approaching the line of scrimmage, but in the huddle and during time outs: Whenever communication needs to be interrupted. I'm learning.

Fast forward to 2012, Michigan is playing Northwestern and my frat bro and I get tickets. He lives south of Seattle and has also learned the impact of fan noise. During this Northwestern game, like always, most people are viewers and not participants. My bro and I try to get the folks near us to make noise. We are mostly ignored. A few people bring out keys to shake...WTF? That is not noise.

Late in the 4th with 30 seconds left, Devin hits Roy setting up a TD to tie the game. I'm screaming like a little girl. Up until that moment, the Big House contained the quietest 100,000 on the planet. But worse, throughout the entire gamethere was a feeling of trepidation, of despondency. The entire game! This was not my Michigan. I'd not experienced any trepidation during a Michigan game since 1989 when, during the last 5 minutes of the UM vs UCLA game, it looked like Michigan was going to lose. Michigan made a comeback to win it 24-23 and the place exploded.

Fast forward again to the 2015 Utah game. My frat bro and I make the drive. Wandering around before the game, we hit a couple pubs. In one, a local asks if we brought our ear plugs. His buddy said, "They've got 110,000 in their stadium, they KNOW what noise is." I did not dissuade them.

The Ute fans were very congenial: Hand shakes and thanking us for coming. Most asked, "No matter what happens tonight, please kick BYU's ass." Apparently they hate that school in Provo. I did not bring ear plugs and found myself sticking fingers in my ears. Polite people yes...but extremely loud. Excepting the outcome, a great experience. There was a lessen learned though: Doing 88 in an 80 zone in Idaho is frowned upon!

Fast forward to the afore mentioned homecoming 2015. Two organizations my bro and I belonged to were having 35th reunions. We got tickets and had a great time getting together and swapping lies with everyone. I am amazed though, at the change in the atmosphere inside the Big House. Upbeat, loud, confident. Whenever Northwestern had the ball, the crowd was making real noise. Another frat bro, a member of the alumni band, was on the field. He said it was loud on the field, not as loud as some stadiums, but loud.

Late in the 4th, up 38-zip, from the south end zone seats starts the defense chant. Brian interpreted it as encouraging the D to finish the shutout. It could have been. My buddies and I participated, but our interpretation was it was a tribute to the team, to include the fans. The atmosphere was fantastic!

On that note, I conclude with a request for the MSU game: MAKE NOISE. Do not let MSU go into a huddle without it. Do not let MSU get to the line without it. If MSU is our toughest opponent to date, noise is required. Every false start, every delay of game, every misalignment, every busted play can be directly attributed to miscommunication. Those in the stands are the disruptors. MAKE NOISE.

PS, sorry about your sore throats on Sunday. A win will make the pain worthwhile!

As these days slowly tick by (CMON hurry) I thought I'd do an interesting thought experiment.

Going into the year some MSU friends and commentators had comments about how how many UM players would even start for MSU. The # was miniscule.

It came off of the 2014 game experience where maybe Jake ryan, Frank Clark and Jake Butt would be the only 3 UM guys who could start for 2014 MSU. And I had a tough time really refuting it. So a 19 to 3 advantage is pretty vast.

Fast forward a year. NOT SO FAST STAEE FANS.

Let's see how it stacks up below. I put UM in traditional 4-3 although we have been doing 4-2-5 so the 2 teams parallel better. I also assumed all the "or" guys for MSU will play i.e. a healthy Jack Allen vs a healthy Graham Glasgow. Of course that won't be the exact case Saturday.

And yes I know the offenses dont play the offenses etc but it's fun to see the change in 12 months.

Offense

UM

MSU

Adv

WR

Darboh

Burbridge

MSU

WR

Chesson

Kings

MSU

LT

Cole

Conklin

MSU

LG

Braden

Allen B.

Wash

C

Glasgow

Allen J.

MSU

RG

Kalis

Clark

Wash

RT

Magnuson

Kieler

Wash

QB

Jake

Cook

MSU

TE

Butt

Price

UM

FB

Kerridge

Pendleton

Wash

RB

Smith

Scott

MSU

Trying to not be a homer (I think Price is a damn good TE in fact) I still see MSU having the advantages on offense esp at receiver and QB. Chesson if he could actually get passes thrown to him might be a Kings equivalent but right now is a receiver we mostly get the ball to via non receiver things.

MSU has 2 clear outliers if Conklin and Jack Allen are healthy even if Glasgow is our best OL; Allen is a 2x All American. I admit I don't know that much about the other 3 linemen in terms of game to game play so I put them as washes with our guys.

Both teams have good FBs who can be dangerous and both have been hurt this year on and off. Price has been hurt but when healthy I see these both as good pass receiving TEs who are not great blockers.

I think of the current crop of running backs on both teams LJ Scott has the most upside in terms of power/speed profile (not a speed back per se but for 230 lbs he is fast) I'd have loved to see that sort of back in a UM uniform. Scott seems a lot like Smith but with more speed.

So I still have Butt as the only clear winner (and MSU has a very good player at TE) and then quite a few washes on the OL and FB. UM is still a year or two behind at skill positions and we know that.

Defense

UM

MSU

Adv

DE

Henry

Calhoun

MSU

DT

Wormley

Heath

UM

NT

Glasgow

McDowell

UM

DE

Jenkins-Stone

Thomas

MSU

OLB

Ross

Harris

MSU

MLB

Morgan

Bullough

Wash

OLB

Bolden

Reschke

Wash

CB

Lewis

Hicks

UM

CB

Stribling

Colquhoun

UM

S

Wilson

Cox

Wash

S

Peppers

Nicholson

UM

This is where the magic happens and yes I'll acknowledge MSU lost a very good OLB.

The 2 DLs are a battle royale. I was a bit surprised at Henry's UFr this week as it was below what I expected but on the year thus far I did think he'd be better but I think the position change hurts him a bit as he is more of an inside guy. Calhoun is a clear 2nd round pick and has been for 2 years. Heath is a good DT but Wormley has more ceiling. McDowell is going to be in the NFL but outside of Anthony Zettel of PSU I dont see another DT in the conf I'd take over Glasgow at current play level; and even with Zettel I'd have to flip a coin! LT is also going to be in the NFL just based on physical prowess alone and rjs has been a 1 game starter - I would have given the nod on LT over Mario as well and like Henry I think LT is a better interior player than end. Overall I grade this 2 to 2.

Again we usually only play 2 LBs so MSU gets an advantage here as Darien Harris is a good LB esp in the pass game covering TEs and the such. Bullough is another Bulloughh in the long line of them and QB of their D....Morgan has been stout as heck and a bigger homer would say Morgan but I think its a wash. Bolden is the least productive UM defender but still solid and Davis has been replaced by Reschke at a decent level. So 2 washes and 1 MSU here. (If Davis was healthy this would be a MSU advantage)

Secondary is where MSU has fallen apart due to graduations and injury. I'd take Lewis over anyone not named Vernon Hargreaves right now. Stribling and Clark have been the revelations of 2015 on the D and Colquhoun is a starter by default. Wilson is difficult to judge because so few plays have gotten to him; Cox is prob the best DB left for MSU. Peppers is a run destroyer who has some coverage issues but athletic as hell. Montae looked like the breakout star for that D in preseason but has a massive sophomore slump going on. So 3 wins for UM and a wash.

So on defense, what a difference a year makes. Outside of DEs there is not a position group you say MSU clearly has an advantage. Last year you'd be pressed to find 2 UM players that would be starting on MSU's D was decent.